Anika Noni Rose (‘Uncle Vanya’) on breaking the 4th wall and learning how to ‘crack open’ the truth within Chekhov [Exclusive Video Interview]
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“I’m always waiting for something different, a different and new challenge,” reveals Anika Noni Rose. A worthy challenge arose in the form of Anton Chekhov, and the latest Broadway revival of his classic play “Uncle Vanya.” The actress had never performed in a Chekhov play before, but for her first Broadway role in 10 years, she “thought it was just time to do something for me that was going to be very different.” Watch the exclusive video interview above.
Rose portrays Yelena in the revival, who is wedded to the older and egotistical professor Serebryakov (Alfred Molina). At their rural estate, the glamorous Yelena expresses boredom and begins to question whether her life choices have led her to the right destination. When Yelena agrees to help Sonia (Alison Pill) discover if her feelings for Astrov (William Jackson Harper) are reciprocated, she unknowingly unleashes a fiery passion in him which overwhelms the estate. Unfortunately, that passion isn’t directed at Sonia.
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“Her boredom is really a life issue,” says Rose, noting her character’s continued lament. “She’s come to a life point, and life is not what she expected it to be.” After marrying a man who is better at being worshiped than expressing love, Yelena is paralyzed in place, having lost her sense of self. “She’s realizing that the choices that she has made that she thought would make her safe, and that she also made for love, were not enough. Or were they enough,” asks Rose.
Yelena seemingly has three choices before her: the professor, Astrov, or Vanya (Steve Carell), but Rose is quick to point out a fourth. “That choice is to claim herself and go on her own, and figure out where she is in the space of life and who she really is,” explains the actress. “And I think that we often forget that when we are looking at a woman who was considered beautiful and alluring, and the person that everybody wants.” Astrov is a fantasy, Vanya is having an existential crisis, and the professor is a megalomaniac. “These are rough choices,” admits Rose.
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The character is able to make a choice all her own within a monologue delivered out to the audience. The lights shift to a warmer hue, Rose cozies up to the edge of the stage, and she openly breaks the fourth wall as if asking the audience for their input. The actress reveals that she initially tried to speak it into the air without acknowledging the audience, but she “could not grab the life of it.” But the shockingly intimate moment between performer and audience makes sense to Rose given the setting. “At this point, she needs somebody else to talk to,” Rose explains, “She can’t talk to these people in this house anymore. They’re driving each other and her crazy. She has to talk to somebody else.” Thankfully, director Lila Neugebauer let her explore the idea, and to great effect. “It really helped crack open the space of those words for me and to allow a truth to be culled from them,” expresses Rose, “it feels very much alive and present.”
Rose won a Tony Award for her performance in the original Broadway production of “Caroline or Change.” She would earn a second Tony nomination for the 2014 revival of “A Raisin in the Sun.” She became a SAG and Grammy nominee for her work on the film adaptation of “Dreamgirls.” Rose was inducted into the Disney Hall of Fame as a “Disney Legend” in 2011, thanks to her vocal performance as Tiana in “The Princess and the Frog.”
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